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Friday, Aug. 18 10:05pm ET
Expos end seven-game losing streak | |||||
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GAME LOG
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- While most teams long for home, the Montreal Expos couldn't wait to hit the road. Mike Thurman helped the Expos snap a season-high seven-game losing streak, pitching a solid seven-plus innings in a 6-3 victory over the San Diego Padres on Friday night. With the fate of the team's future in Montreal, as well as manager Felipe Alou's job status in doubt, the Expos couldn't wait to head to the West Coast for a seven-game road trip. "There's a lot of stuff going on," outfielder Milton Bradley said. "Getting out of there and into the open air had everyone feeling good." The Expos have lost 25 of their last 32 home games. Alou, who failed to receive a vote of confidence recently from owner Jeffrey Loria, wore a relieved look after the victory. "It's nice to finally win one," he said. "It's been tough." The Expos scored in each of the first three innings and Thurman (3-3) consistently kept the Padres off-balance. "He did a good job of moving the ball from side to side and putting his pitches in good locations," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. Thurman pitched into the eighth for just the second time this season before Alou removed him when he walked Desi Relaford to lead off the inning. Thurman allowed two runs on five hits, walked four and struck out one, as the defense turned four double plays behind him. He also contributed a pair of sacrifice bunts that led to two runs. Scott Strickland got four outs for his third save in six chances, sending San Diego to its fourth consecutive loss. "We did a lot of little things that we haven't been doing lately," said Bradley, who drove in two runs with a double and a sacrifice fly. Matt Clement (11-11) gave up five runs _ three earned _ and seven hits in five innings, needing 32 pitches to get through the first inning. He also threw two wild pitches and committed a double error that allowed a run to score. Vladimir Guerrero and Geoff Blum hit RBI singles in the first, and Bradley's RBI double made it 3-0 in the second. San Diego scored in the bottom half on a groundout by Wiki Gonzalez, but the Expos increased their lead to 5-1 in the third following an error by third baseman Phil Nevin that allowed Guerrero to reach. Blum walked, Clement threw a wild pitch and Brian Schneider hit a high chopper a few feet in front of the plate. Clement fielded the ball and tried to shovel it to Gonzalez at the plate. Guerrero slid in ahead of the throw, which went all the way to the backstop as Blum scored. When Clement failed to handle Gonzalez's return throw, he was charged with another error. "The best thing I should have done is to hold onto the ball," Clement said. San Diego, which scored just four runs while losing three games to Atlanta, got a pair of runs in the eighth on Mike Darr's RBI grounder and Anthony Telford's wild pitch with a runner on third. Game notesMontreal C Lenny Webster was placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Monday, with a sore right elbow. Webster was replaced by Schneider, who was recalled from Triple-A Ottawa. ... Clement's 18 wild pitches are a team record. He is second in the majors to Cincinnati's Scott Sullivan (20). ... Expos OF Peter Bergeron is still nursing a bruised left thumb and was held out of the lineup. ... The Padres (10-7 in August) need just five wins in their last 12 games of the month for their first winning month since June 1999. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Montreal Clubhouse San Diego Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 6 Texas 4
Montreal 6
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